News Release
QUALITYLOGIC COMPLETES YIELD AND RELIABILITY COMPARISON STUDIES FOR INKJET CARTRIDGES
Study Compares Original HP Inkjet Print Cartridges to 13 Refilled Brands from North America
Moorpark, CA – May 29, 2007 – QualityLogic (www.qualitylogic.com), a leading provider of QA and QC test tools and services for the imaging and telecommunications industries, today announced the completion of a study comparing the yield and reliability of original HP inkjet print cartridges to refilled ink cartridges. The refilled cartridges tested included cartridges carrying store brand names, cartridges carrying third-party brand names, and cartridges that QualityLogic had refilled at refill stations. This study was commissioned by HP and executed by QualityLogic in its test labs.
The results of the study showed that on average, original HP inkjet print cartridges produced 57.5% more pages than the refill brands tested, when looking at the total pages printed from those cartridges tested.
When looking at just the cartridges that QualityLogic had refilled at refill stations, HP cartridges printed more than twice as many pages as these refilled brands.
The results of the reliability test showed that on average one out of five of all the refilled cartridges in the test failed and one out of four of the cartridges refilled at shops or refill stations failed. This does not include the 40 cartridges that could not be successfully refilled at a refill station. A cartridge was classified as a failure if it was dead on arrival or failed prematurely during the test.
“This QualityLogic study reveals significant differences in yield and reliability between Original HP inkjet print cartridges and refilled brands,” said Dave Jollota, QualityLogic COO. "The QualityLogic team conducted extensive testing of 13 commonly available refill brands, and meticulously analyzed and compiled results using more than 800 ink cartridges.”
Test Methodology
A total of 762 refilled print cartridges and 68 HP print cartridges were tested using a total of 42 HP DeskJet 5650 printers and 30 HP DeskJet 6940 printers.
Printing was performed in a continuous mode in a controlled environment using the five-page test suite from ISO/IEC 24712, and the environmental conditions specified in ISO/IEC 24711.
QualityLogic procured all printers, paper, and HP print cartridges through standard retail channels. Refilled print cartridges were obtained through multiple retail channels in multiple cities, where possible, or directly from the manufacturer. For the refill station brands tested, approximately 50% of the test data is based on cartridges that were refilled once, approximately 30% is based on cartridges that were refilled twice and approximately 20% is based on cartridges that were refilled three times.
QualityLogic selected Xerox Commercial 4200 plain paper (8½ x 11, 20 lb., 92 Brightness) for all printing for this study.
Cartridge transportation policies were designed to replicate customer behavior. Cartridges were shipped via ground shipment or air shipment utilizing air-tight, pressurized containers to protect against transportation-induced reliability problems.
Printer settings were left at the factory default. Driver quality settings were set to Normal and plain media.
Each cartridge was inspected for leaks or other damage upon entering the test. A cartridge with substantial visible ink spilled in the bag or on the cartridge was declared DOA due to the leak. All other cartridges were printed to End-of-Life (EOL).
Printing continued until at least 17 black and 17 color cartridges successfully reached EOL for each printer model tested. Color and black cartridges were tested in parallel. As 17 color or black cartridges were completed for a brand, HP original cartridges were used to complete the rest of the brand. All results and effects of these HP original cartridges were ignored in the test.
Testing was conducted to align with the sample size requirements in ISO/IEC 24711, which requires a minimum of three physical cartridges to be tested in each of three printers. To ensure a statistically significant result, testing continued until a minimum of nine of each cartridge arrived at EOL due to Fade.
The test methodology for this reliability comparison study was developed by HP and implemented by QualityLogic.
Download the Test Report (pdf)
ABOUT QUALITYLOGIC
QualityLogic Inc. provides leading-edge QA and QC test tools and services for the imaging and telecommunications industries. Its tools and services are used for conformance, performance, and interoperability testing – from low-level firmware testing to high-level multi-tier application testing. Its target markets are companies that develop and market printers, multifunction peripherals, Telephony/IP products/services and client-based/mobility software.
TOOLS
QualityLogic’s test tools and utilities include the following:
- A comprehensive set of Microsoft XPS (XML Paper Specification) test suites, tools and utilities.
- PageSense, the de facto performance-measurement standard for printer throughput testing and analysis.
- Fax testing tools for companies that develop fax machines and build the network infrastructure equipment to handle fax traffic, and the carriers that run these networks. QualityLogic’s fax-tools customers include AT&T, Alcatel, British Telecom, Cisco, Ericsson, Microsoft, Motorola, Nortel and others.
SERVICES
Quality Logic has four primary service offerings. These include:
- Contract test services for major technology companies at QualityLogic’s Boise, ID and Moorpark, CA labs.
- Onsite managed services for QA.
- Certification test services for companies such as Microsoft.
- Competitive testing projects for imaging industry OEMs for both internal and public purposes.
QualityLogic partners with leading technology firms to develop new and enhanced test solutions for emerging technologies. It offers pre-submission testing of printer and imaging device drivers for the new Windows Vista Logo Program 3.0, and is the first company to provide independent Microsoft XPS technology training for engineers and designers.
QualityLogic offers a certified page-yield testing service for printer ink and toner cartridges, as well as testing for consumables reliability, print quality and cost of ownership. In addition, it performs competitive assessment work for HP, Dell and other printer companies.Address is: QualityLogic, 5401 Tech Circle, Moorpark, CA 93021
Phone is: 805-531-9030 or 800-436-6292.
Web site is: www.qualitylogic.com
Fax is: 805-531-9045
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Darryl Lloyd, Darryl Lloyd Inc., DL@DLloyd.com, 805-499-0562
QualityLogic, Inc., info@qualitylogic.com,
805-531-9030, ext. 108
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